Nazi Oppression Of Sports In The 1936 Summer Olympics

The Olympics have shown over the decades that they can be affected by political conflict. However, it seems that this is the point of the Olympics, to illustrate national pride, by competition. Bloodshed should not be the way for pride of one’s country to be shown, but it should be shown through competition, in the words of the founder of the modern Olympic movement, Pierre de

the time, and the Nazis were in power. Before the Olympics, German Jews had been segregated and

“Although I wasn’t invited to shake hands with Hitler, I wasn’t invited to the White House to shake hands with the President either.” - Jesse Owens. Jesse Owens was an African American athlete that won four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics at Berlin during the Nazi regime. The 1936 Olympics was quite controversial because of the Nazi’s and their policies for minority groups like the Jews. It was so controversial that the United states nearly pulled out of the international spectacle. Germany wanted to use the Olympics to showcase their country. But Jesse Owens took much of the attention away due to his athletic display. Even with his legendary performance in Berlin, it didn’t change much of his status in the US as a black man. In the

There are quite a few factors that shaped the modern-day Olympics from 1892 to 2002. Pierre de Coubertin states that he wanted to create the Olympics to spread world peace. He does this by substituting war for friendly sports competitions (doc 1). Of course, there were some bumps in the road while trying to achieve this utopia. Some factors that have changed the Olympics are the allowing of women being able to compete in the Olympics, women’s suffrage, nationalism, wars, and economic conditions (doc 2-7).

Starting with Document 3, we are shown how the Nazi’s took the Olympic Games during the period of World War 2. Document 3 shows that the Nazi’s interpreted the Olympic games as a competition showing what countries have the most power in the world. Since during World War 2, The Nazi’s were trying to spread their ideas and beliefs to the world and they thought a good way to do this was the Olympic Games since their interpretation of the Olympic Games was a way to show a country's supremacy. In the end, The Nazi’s were provoked to cheat as they were caught practicing a course before the course was to be presented. In the end, the world was shown what would happen when national conflicts are brought into the Olympic games.

At this time, Adolf Hitler implemented an "Aryans only" policy, in an attempt to show how the Aryan race was superior to others. Shortly after Adolf Hitler became chancellor, excluding Jews from German sport/recreational facilities had become a common occurrence. Though, the banning of those who weren’t Aryan from the German Olympic team had been internationally criticized as it was considered a violation of the Olympic code of equality. A massive sports complex for the games, a new stadium, and an Olympic village for housing the athletes had been created by the Nazis, with swastikas all across the monuments of Berlin. At this time, there had been separated sports facilities that were nowhere near as nice the Germans’, made specifically for the Jewish athletes. Excluding Jews from German sport/recreational facilities had become a common occurrence after Hitler became chancellor. This was, of course, part of a larger and more sinister plan to obliterate the Jewish population of Germany. Because of this, threats were made to boycott the Games from numerous countries around the world (such as Great Britain, Sweden, France, Czechoslovakia, and the Netherlands). These Boycott threats made the Nazi’s try to hide Germany’s blatant anti-semitism while hosting the Summer Olympics, as the majority of anti-Semitic signs were temporarily removed. Even with knowledge of Germany’s anti-semitism, the U.S. still decided to send its

Jesse Owens changed the world by matriculated in the Olympics and showing that everyone is different and better at things than other people. Starting with shaking Hitler's hand and the Gunshot of the run, he showed the world that every race is superior in many ways. In all of the events he competed he took first in and showed that race does not matter. Although, “Jesse Owens, who smoked up to a pack of cigarettes a day for a good deal of his life, died of lung cancer in Tucson, Arizona, on March 31, 1980” (History). When he was awarded the medals he showed the world that all blacks can compete in the olyimpics.

One of the most influential events in American history occurred when Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. This accomplishment and others that he would achieve in his life time, were inspiring given the historical context in which he rose to fame. Jesse Owens created a historic legacy not just because of his record finishes on the track, but also due to the challenging times in which he competed.

Most people would classify the Berlin Olympic Games of 1936 as just another Olympics, and they would be right because the Games did have the classic triumphs and upsets that occur at all Olympic Games. What most people did not see, behind the spectacle of the proceedings, was the effect the Nazi party had on every aspect of the Games including the results. Despite Nazi Germany’s determination to come off as the superior nation in the 1936 Olympics, their efforts were almost crushed by the very people they were trying to exclude.

The Nazi Olympics was used as a propaganda for the Nazi’s use. The Nazi’s used this Olympics to show off their strength and to show how powerful they are. Around 49 olympic teams from around the world joined in on the Nazi Olympics. Shows how about 49 different olympic teams were involved in this olympics.

The Story of Jesse Owens is a very well known story to most athletes around the world. Jesse Owens was a young black boy who won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. Jesse Owens proved Hitler wrong by becoming the most successful athlete in the 1936 games. Jesse Owens influenced civil rights through his early life, accomplishments, and his racial inequality.

The focus of this paper will be to compare and contrast the political affects of the 1936 Olympics to Ancient Olympics. The 1936 Olympics was held in Berlin, Germany. At this time in history, Adolf Hitler was the Chancellor of Germany. Hitler’s rise to power was manly focused on anti-Semitism and racism. In addition, Hitler personally believed that Aryan’s were superior beings and athletes.

The Nazi Olympics in Berlin in 1936 destroyed Hitler’s master race history. "There was very definitely a special feeling in winning the gold medal and being a black man," Woodruff said. "We destroyed [Hitler's] master race theory whenever we started winning those gold medals,” said runner John Woodruff (7). John Woodruff was a black man who won a gold medal. Another African American Jesse Owens won four track and field gold medals. These two people defied the Aryan ideal that Hitler believed that Aryan dominated the world. Another important impact the Olympic brought happened in 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. In that Olympics, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon refused to participate because of a dispute over the Suez Canal; Spain, Switzerland, and the Netherlands boycotted the Games in protest over the Soviet Union's invasion of Hungary; China boycotted the Games because a flag of Taiwan was raised in the Olympic Village. The original purpose of the Olympics was to make the countries collaborate, however, it also brought negative impacts. Another example is that Olympics in Mexico city in 1968. Americans politicised the Games by letting two African Americans, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, represent the United States. Tommie Smith and John Carlos placed first and third in the track and field. During their medal ceremony, they raised a clenched fist above their

"...Sport is prostituted when sport loses its independent and democratic character and becomes a political institution...Nazi Germany is endeavoring to use the Eleventh Olympiad to serve the necessities and interests of the Nazi regime rather than the Olympic ideals."

In 1968, two black American male athletes made history at the Mexico Olympics by making a silent protest against racial discrimination during the American National Anthem in the victory ceremony.